Ferhat Abbas

Ferhat Abbas (24 October 1899-24 December 1985) was the President of the Provisional Government of Algeria from 18 September 1958 to 27 August 1961, preceding Benyoucef Benkhedda, and acting President from 25 September 1962 to 15 September 1963, succeeding Abderrahmane Fares and preceding Ahmed Ben Bella.

Biography
Ferhat Abbas was born in Taher, French Algeria in 1899. A chemistry student, he founded a Muslim students' association in 1924, and he fought in the French Army during World War II. In 1942, he produced a manifesto that called for Algerian autonomy from France, and he joined Ahmed Ben Bella's FLN in 1956. After the outbreak of the Algerian War, Abbas founded the Algerian government-in-exile in Tunis, and he served as its president until 1961; from 1962 to 1963, he served as President of the National Constituent Assembly and provisional head of state. He fell out of favor with Ben Bella due to leading the moderate nationalist faction, and he was exiled in 1963. He was allowed to return shortly before his death in 1985.